Debrief after an order closes is critical

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague today. The conversation centered around how “the sales team lost the order at ….”. A post contract award follow-up is critical to future sales success. Why did we lose the order? Was our submission late, were we missing key parts of the technical proposal, did we misunderstand customer needs, did we fail to communicate our value proposition clearly, was our price to high (and by the way, what exactly does that mean?)? All of those are relevant questions to ask the sales team however don’t stop with just the sales questions.  Expand the debrief to include the entire organization.  Was it something outside the sales process? Did we not meet customer lead time requirements, were our warranty terms unacceptable, did we miss on the financial requirements or payments terms?  It is crucial to ensure that the organization as a whole celebrates the wins but also debriefs and understands the losses and why they happened. Debriefing the team after a loss is a critical “teaching” moment for everyone on the team to understand what our competitors are doing, what our customers are expecting and what it will take for us to win the next one.